The New Wine Press vol 26 no 1 September 2017 | Page 8

Peace & Justice
The Working Poor and Catholic Social Teaching
by Gabino Zavala, Justice and Peace Director
Among the marginalized and vulnerable that
St. Gaspar called us to serve are today’s struggling,
minimum wage workers. These workers struggle to
provide the basic needs for themselves and their fami-
lies. Many workers who earn minimum wage work
long hours, cobbling together multiple jobs to get by.
Others amass enough hours to pay basic bills, surviv-
ing only with a patchwork of help from family and
government subsidies. Many are employed in the fast
food industry or are personal and care service workers. Throughout its history, but most especially in the
last one hundred years, the Church has spoken widely
and often prophetically the truth about the social or-
der and the world in which we live. This social teach-
ing derives from four fundamental beliefs:
• Human beings are created in the very image and
likeness of God, so precious that God sent his own
Son to save people from death (cf. Genesis 1:26-27;
John 3:16).
Nicole, a single mother of two boys, makes $7.50 an
hour in a fast food establishment. She struggles “living
paycheck to paycheck just barely getting by working
full-time and only getting part-time benefits…which
is nothing…I work to live and live to work, no time for
anything else. I’ve been on food stamps for some time
now, and that just gets me by thank goodness but that’s
all it does. To make ends meet I’ve had to move in with
my parents, stopped driving because I couldn’t afford
car insurance and gas at times. I work long endless
hours, no breaks, so I can get a decent check.” • We are called to live in communion with God
and with our brothers and sisters in the Body
of Christ (cf. I Corinthians 12). As such, we are
called to work for the common good rather than
self-interest.
• We are called to serve those in the greatest need,
the “least of these,” as, in doing so, we serve God
(cf. Matthew 25:40).
• We are called to preach and to help bring about
the kingdom of God: “an eternal and universal
kingdom: a kingdom of truth and light, a king-
dom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice,
love, and peace” (Preface for the Solemnity of
Christ the King).
Nicole’s story is all too familiar in the state of
Missouri and I dare say throughout our country. The
federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. The mini-
mum wage in the state of Missouri is $7.65 an hour.
How can a single person survive on this salary? How
does a mother or father support their families on
these wages?
Here in Missouri there has been a concerted effort
to raise the minimum wage for fast food workers and
other low wage earners to $15 an hour and unionize
these workers. The fight for a living wage in Kansas
City has been a long one. In the recent August elec-
tions, Kansas City voters voted overwhelmingly (68%
to 32%) to raise the minimum wage. However, the
struggle continues because our state legislature has
preempted the will of the voters from making an in-
crease to the minimum wage a reality.
September is the month to give thanks for the
right and gift of work. It is an appropriate time to
reflect on the plight of workers who struggle to
survive as well. It is also an opportune time to re-
flect on Catholic Social Teaching as it addresses the
rights of workers.
6 • The New Wine Press • September 2017
In light of these four beliefs, the Catholic Bishops of
the United States have identified seven key themes that
suffuse Church teaching about building a just society
and living lives of holiness and integrity in the modern
world. Let me identify each of these themes and in
light of them reflect on the rights of workers.
The first theme of Catholic social teaching is the life
and dignity of the human person. All workers’ rights
are based on the inherent dignity of the human per-
son. Workers are not only a means of production like
raw materials and capital. They also bring their unique
talents to their work. In return, their work should pro-
vide them not only with the material things that allow
them to live in dignity, but should also provide them
with satisfaction and personal fulfillment.
Unions grew out of the struggle for social justice,
not class struggle. Over the past century, unions have
been an important force in ensuring that workers are